Recap and photos: Prince Celebration of Life was a night of purple majesty at Armory
by Joel Swenson
June 08, 2026
It’s hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Prince Rogers Nelson left us. Still, Prince fans worldwide have kept his spirit alive with their undying dedication. Nowhere is that more true than in the Purple One’s hometown.
All across the Twin Cities, the annual Prince Celebration honored his legacy in full with guided tours of Paisley Park, panel discussions, immersive fan experiences, visits to George Floyd Square and the memorial sites of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and a kick-off show at First Avenue featuring Chaka Khan, all leading up to Friday night’s main event at the Armory. Billed as a celebration of life, the show featured those who knew and loved Prince the most: his bandmates, collaborators, protégés, and friends.
Friday’s show marked a historic collaboration featuring members of Prince’s bands the New Power Generation and the Revolution sharing a stage. It also featured sets by Kat Graham and Sounds of Blackness as well as appearances by Miguel, Tevin Campbell, Bilal, Kris Kollins (star of the Purple Rain broadway musical), and of course Prince’s longtime friend (and occasional rival) Morris Day.
When the doors finally opened, the sea of purple began filling the Armory — but not too full. Friday’s show was shockingly underattended in comparison to Saturday’s Prince block party and sing-along with fans occupying only about a third of the Armory’s massive floor. Those who were there, however, were diehard Prince fans sporting T-shirts, hats, medallions, and jackets tied to the occasion. There were also enough Prince tattoos in the room to fill an entire art gallery.
As they waited for the show to begin, the crowd took time to reminisce and swap stories about their beloved Prince. A truly all-ages crowd spanned multiple generations, with just as many people who experienced the Purple Rain era firsthand as those who likely discovered Prince from their parents’ record collection.
Prince’s longtime mentee Kat Graham kicked things off with a quick set of songs. Wearing a sleek black Prince-inspired suit, Graham shared some fond memories and words of wisdom from her late mentor in between songs. Before “World Song,” she recalled something Prince engrained in her: “One of the things Prince taught me was that you have to care about what’s going on in the world.”
The night’s first truly special moment arrived with the Twin Cities’ own Sounds of Blackness. Founded in 1969 as the Macalester College Black Voices, the Grammy Award-winning gospel and R&B ensemble changed its name to Sounds of Blackness when musical director Gary Hines took the reins in 1971. They’ve been a Twin Cities institution ever since. While the band currently touts over 50 members on its roster, 23 shared the stage on Friday: 14 singers and nine musicians.
With so many voices and layers of instrumentation, Sounds of Blackness need to be experienced live. There’s a reason they’ve garnered so many loyal fans over the years, including Prince himself. After jaw-dropping renditions of “The Drum (Africa to America)” and “Black Butterfly,” Hines recalled, “He’d come see us at Fine Line, at the Riverview, it didn’t matter. And so we want to do something to honor him specifically tonight.”
Following a brief gospel version of the intro to Prince’s “Thunder,” lead vocalist Jamecia Bennett stepped up to the mic at center stage and sang the opening lines of “Nothing Compares 2 U.” The crowd erupted. Bennett’s voice more than lived up to both Prince and Sinéad O'Connor’s versions of the song. This was the best rendition of the song I’ve ever heard. Next, Sounds of Blackness’ associate music director Billy Steele kicked off the band’s 1994 hit “Hold On (Change is Comin’)” with equally spine-tingling vocals. His voice was absolutely searing during the song’s hopeful bridge. Overall, the Sounds of Blackness set was by far the standout performance of the night.
It was time for the main event. As members of multiple eras of the New Power Generation filed onstage, Prince’s former attorney, manager, and friend L. Londell McMillan introduced them and spoke of the significance of the occasion: “You won’t see another night quite like this. Tonight will be unforgettable.” New Power Generation members Liv Warfield, Ashley Támar, Cassandra O’Neal, Cora Dunham, Levi Seacer, Jr., Sonny T., Kenni Holman, Greg Boyer, Mike Phillips, Mackenzie Green, Tony M., Morris Hayes, and Mike Scott served as the night’s musical backbone with Revolution members Bobby Z. and Lisa Coleman joining in on select songs.
Video clips and archival Prince interviews broke up the nearly three-and-a-half-hour set and briefly gave the feeling that Prince was still with us. But at a certain point, these video intermissions just dragged the set out. With the delayed start, the show didn’t end until after 1 a.m., which would be fitting for an actual Prince show. But in his absence and with multiple vocalists standing in for him and seemingly trying to outdo one another, it felt a bit like a large-scale, live-band karaoke session.
That said, there were plenty of bright spots during the megaset. Tevin Campbell, who Prince handpicked to record “Round and Round” for the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack when he was just 12 years old, was a definite crowd pleaser. Onstage, the now 49-year-old Campbell belted it out while his younger self danced along on the screens flanking the stage. “It’s pretty cool to say you worked with Prince when you were only 12 years old,” Campbell said, grinning. “And again when you were 16.” He also admitted with an endearing honesty: “I didn’t think y’all would know who I was.” The crowd proved him very wrong.
Miguel brought a different kind of energy to the stage. He was smooth, deeply reverent, and oozed the kind of sex appeal Prince himself was known for. His vocal range on his 2010 hit “Sure Thing” was wildly impressive. Before “Adorn,” he spoke about Prince’s influence on him as a songwriter and producer. “Little Red Corvette,” with Revolution members Bobby Z. and Lisa Coleman joining NPG, was a definite highlight, with Miguel delivering a dead-on Prince impersonation to a very excited crowd. Coleman and Bobby Z. were a consistent presence through the set’s second half, and their chemistry with NPG kept everything well-grounded.
Bilal added yet another dimension. His range is equally as impressive as Miguel’s and he used every bit of it on “The Beautiful Ones” and “If I Was Your Girlfriend.” Both songs show just how demanding Prince’s catalog is to pull off. The fact that so many of the night’s vocalists did it so convincingly is a testament to how deep his influence runs.
And then there was Morris Day.
Morris Day might just be the coolest man alive. From the moment he set foot on that stage, it was his. His voice was flawless, and watching him and former Time dancer Jerome Benton fall back into their synchronized moves during “Jungle Love” (with original Time members Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis also onstage) was genuinely surreal. It immediately brought me back to when I was 12, watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and becoming obsessed with Morris Day and the Time.
It seemed as if a lot of the crowd was most excited to see Morris Day since the Armory felt even more empty then before after his portion of the set wrapped up. And that’s a real shame because the evening’s closing stretch belonged to star of the Broadway musical Purple Rain, Kris Kollins, who took on the considerable task of channeling Prince on “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Kiss,” and finally, “Purple Rain.” Every shriek, every wail, every whoo — he didn’t miss one. By the time NPG guitarist Levi Seacer, Jr. delivered the song’s epic solo, it felt like Prince was using Kollins as a vessel. There were tears everywhere, hands in the air, and 10 years of grief and gratitude filling every corner of the Armory.
Setlist
“For You”
“Batdance”
“???”
“???”
“Crazy Fool”
“7”
“Emancipation”
“Musicology”
“Sexy M.F.”
“???”
“1999/Manic Monday” featuring Lisa Coleman
“3121”
“Gett Off”
“Round and Round” featuring Tevin Campbell
“Can We Talk” Tevin Campbell song
“Sure Thing” Miguel song
“Adore” Miguel song
“Little Red Corvette” featuring Miguel, Bobby Z, and Lisa Coleman
“Darling Nikki” featuring Miguel, Bobby Z, and Lisa Coleman
“Get It Up” Morris Day song
“Cool” Morris Day Song
“The Bird” Morris Day song
“Jungle Love” Morris Day song featuring Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam
“Big City”
“Uptown” featuring Bobby Z and Lisa Coleman
“The Beautiful Ones” featuring Bobby Z, Lisa Coleman, and Bilal
“If I was Your Girlfriend” featuring Bobby Z, Lisa Coleman, and Bilal
“Soul Sista” Bilal song featuring Bobby Z and Lisa Coleman
“Let’s Go Crazy” featuring Kris Kollins, Bobby Z, and Lisa Coleman
“Kiss” featuring Kris Kollins, Bobby Z, and Lisa Coleman
“Purple Rain” featuring Miguel, Kris Kollins, Bobby Z, and Lisa Coleman
